Editor 's Note : Matthew Continetti is the associate editor of The Weekly Standard . His book `` The Persecution of Sarah Palin '' is slated for publication by Penguin Sentinel in the spring of 2010 .

Sarah Palin 's charisma is such that she does n't need to hold an office to wield influence , Matthew Continetti says .

-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- `` Everything changed on August 29 in politics in Alaska , '' Sarah Palin told NBC 's Andrea Mitchell this week . The reference was to the day last year when John McCain announced that Palin , a 44-year-old mother of five who became Alaska 's governor only in December 2006 , would be his presidential running mate .

McCain 's surprise pick altered the trajectory of the 2008 campaign -- for a few weeks , at least -- and launched Palin , until then an unknown political neophyte , on the path to global celebrity . But it also set in motion a chain of events that , a little more than 10 months later , would culminate in Palin 's surprise announcement that she would leave her office effective July 26 .

Before the day she joined the 2008 Republican presidential ticket , Alaskans saw Sarah Palin as a champion of ethics in government who had twice defeated oil interests , governed with Democrats in a bipartisan manner and brought down powerful members of her own party . She enjoyed record approval ratings , and her major initiatives had all been signed into law .

But the good times did n't last . By the following July , Palin 's approval numbers had sunk to the mid-50th percentile , the coalition on which she governed had collapsed , and most of her time was spent combating a hostile media and frivolous ethics complaints .

What happened ? The campaign . The reaction to Palin 's nomination was as visceral as it was unhinged . Knowing almost nothing of the feisty hockey mom turned political dragon-slayer , some in the media turned rumors -- had Palin supported Patrick Buchanan ? Had she been a member of the Alaska Independence Party ? Did she believe that dinosaurs were around a couple thousand years ago ? -- into established facts .

Not content to examine Palin 's actual record , the press did its best to transform the unconventional , pragmatic politician into a fire-breathing social conservative who was outside the American mainstream .

Democratic partisans committed to Barack Obama 's election demonized Palin until she became the emblem for everything liberals think is wrong with America . Comedians lampooned her accent , her looks , her religion , her education and her family . The same McCain aides who championed Palin for vice president later turned on her and leaked damaging -LRB- and false -RRB- information to a press eager for any tidbit confirming its view that the governor was unqualified and reckless . One lousy interview with Katie Couric did n't help .

Something about Sarah Palin riles people up . After the McCain-Palin ticket lost the election and the governor returned to Alaska , the onslaught against her did not cease . The Democrats in the state legislature who once had been Palin 's allies turned on her . Her opponents , continuing their never-ending search for dirt , inundated the governor 's office with 150 Freedom of Information Act requests for documents relating to Palin 's schedule and contacts .

The Anchorage Daily News counts 18 ethics complaints filed against Palin . All of them have been dismissed , but at great cost to the state in man-hours and wasted resources . The Palin family 's personal legal liability is around half a million dollars .

Meanwhile , the father of her grandchild went on a publicity tour flacking `` intimate '' details about her family , and David Letterman joked on national television about Alex Rodriguez impregnating her underage daughter Willow . -LRB- He later apologized , saying he intended for the joke to be about Palin 's 18-year-old daughter , Bristol . As if that would make it any more tasteful . -RRB- And McCain sources kept providing ridiculous insinuations about her to reporters -LRB- all on background , of course -RRB- .

Palin did nothing to deserve the acrimonious venom that has been flung at her non-stop since she first appeared onstage with McCain . The professional , emotional and financial toll on her has been incredible . Partisan agendas and personal animosities have left her with few friends and many opponents in Alaska . And so , last week , she did what she is used to doing . She shook up the playing field .

On July 26 , Palin will be a free woman . No longer will she have to juggle official responsibilities , a national political following and her children . She can travel freely to the Lower 48 without worrying about how it may affect her standing back home . She can defend herself and her family against slander without the controversy distracting from the duties of high office . She can make money to pay the bills . She can pick her battles without being hemmed in by the state legislature and bureaucracy .

Palin is impulsive . Her charisma is such that she does not need to hold an office to command attention or wield influence . She resigned from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission all of a sudden in 2004 , plunged into a Republican gubernatorial primary in October 2005 and joined McCain 's campaign without hesitation . Two of these three dizzying moves ended up in victory , and one did not . Two out of three is n't bad . Why should n't Palin think another gamble might pay off ?

Palin herself may not know her next move . Speculation about her presidential ambitions is premature , though it will be much easier for her to build a national organization now that she has no professional ties to Alaska .

Whatever she does will be noticed , that 's for sure . Because the attention lavished on Palin 's decision is further evidence of her unwitting ability to bring out deep-seated feelings of admiration -- and loathing -- in people . We will be hearing from Palin , and from the Palin-haters , for a long while to come .

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Palin 's impulsive moves have yielded positive results in the past , Continetti says

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He says speculations about her presidential ambitions are premature

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`` Whatever she does will be noticed , '' Continetti says